Bike rides are better than the gym.

I tried really hard to go to the gym this morning.  (No, really!)  It was not in the cards, however.  Someone really didn’t want me to get on an elliptical, so I got home all bummed that my gymscapades ended so quickly.  It made me really frustrated and angry too, even though most of what happened was completely out of my control, and I felt like I had to get all that energy out.  So I pulled my little sister’s bike out (my bike’s gears are all messed up) and raised the seat and went for a ride.  I haven’t been on a bike ride probably since I got my car a year ago.  Before that, I was completely dependent on my bike for travel around town. It felt fabulous to get back  on a bike!

I just rode around my neighborhood.  It’s fairly small, so I was amazed when I came up on all these houses I’d never seen before.  Now, I’ve lived in this neighborhood almost my entire life.  We moved here when I was 6 and my mom married my step dad.   I moved back this summer after 1 year of graduate school.  I’m sure I would have remembered these houses!

I think this is my dream house:

It’s just my style and it’s the lake in the back of neighborhood.  It’s the perfect size and I love that it’s shingled.  I would love to live here one day.  Isn’t it just gorgeous?  I hope it’s  equally beautiful on the inside.  A house this style might be pretty common in other parts of the country, but not around here, and definitely not in my neighborhood.

All the crepe myrtles were in bloom last week and they were absolutely beautiful!  Unfortunately everything is browning up now with the lack of rain and I didn’t get a chance to take any pictures of lovely crepe myrtles when they were at their prettiest.  I did manage to find a few that were still quite colorful.  Take a look:

I’d say that’s a colorful flower.  They’re just so beautiful, I want lots of them in my yard when I have my own yard in which I can grow things.

Check out this other house I found.  It’s right across from the shingled beauty up above and is very odd architecture for anywhere, not just this area:

I’m not sure that this photo even does the house any justice.  There is a sign over the door that says Sanctuary and it certainly does have that old-world feel.  This house also has a beautiful view, from what I could tell from the road.

I definitely felt better after my bike ride.  I let all that frustration get out and in the meantime got to do some exploring.  One other thing that cheered me up?  Wearing my new running shoes:

Yup, those are my very own gigantic feet!  Aren’t they pretty?  But most of all, they’re going to help my poor flat feet with overpronation and keep me running.   My feet feel fabulous and I can’t imagine working out without them and it’s been less than 24-hours!

The rest of the day involves 15cent shrimp and you can’t get  much better than that, so I’ll see you later!